Lunar Threads

Still slowly.... slowly... balancing Dragon Quest Dai's Adventure, Yashahime, & Shaman King

The remake Space Battleship Yamato 2205. Better writing than SBY 2202, but not as good as SBY 2199 due to it being only 8 eps/2 movies long. One of thes days, I'm going to check out the originals too.

LOL..... Wow.....I can actually say this with complete honesty....again!

Still slowly.... slowly... balancing Dragon Quest Dai's Adventure, Yashahime, & Shaman King

I finished Naoki Urasawa's Monster. I'm very town on it. First off, Johan is truly terrifying, and the suspense at the end of each episode was well done. On the other hand, there were so many pointless arcs/side characters/one-off episodes that could be removed with little-no detriment to the story. Also the very end made no sense, and undid any sense of closure the last episode was building up to. Overall, good, but not great.

Bocchi: The Rock!

Ika Musume/Squid Girl. It's the tentacular story of a squid girl who comes from the sea to inkvade the humans, but then finds she has to get a job. It was hillarious and cute, degeso! https://www.amazon.com/Squid-Girl-Blu-r ... 117&sr=8-2

For the first time in ages I'm starting to watch a new (for me) anime series: Gate.

I'm actually really enjoying it. What hooked me was the premise "what would happen if a fantasy army tried to go against a modern military... exactly what you'd expect", and going beyond the obvious military imbalance to what happens when the Big Fantasy Empire is entirely destabilized because nearly their entire army got obliterated trying to attack an enemy they didn't understand. Plus subverting usual alternate-dimension anime tropes (the entire world knows about the other dimension now, not just a handful of people, there are political implications of everything on both sides, and so on). I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable at this sort of glamorizing-of-the-military/JSDF going on, but it isn't bothering me too much.

Cardcaptor Sakura. Been working on it on and off for a bit.

Finished Gate. Really would've been nice for another season or two, but it ended at a satisfying point instead of having too many loose threads.

The... pro-military/pro-JDSF propaganda part got a bit more bothersome when they introduced a two-bit journalist character for like half an episode, but that got dropped quick (thankfully). It's noticeable but not so bad that I can't look past it and enjoy the show (including all the characters in the JSDF -- Shino remains my favorite).

Trails of Cold Steel -Northern War-

Tried watching the first episode of Chainsaw Man. I think I see why people like it but it didn't stand out more than other things like, maybe, early episodes of Bleach or Gantz. Not really my thing.

Otaku Elf: It's a mix of nerd humor with many references to the Edo period. Basically the MCs are a blonde fantasy elf who has been worshipped as the goddess of a Shinto shrine since the Edo period (and a mega-nerd), and her miko, who's *somewhat* more normal, though kind of obessed with being stylish. It's funny, especially their banter, I would reccomend it: https://www.hidive.com/tv/otaku-elf

Shinto-Cetra wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 5:05 pm Otaku Elf: It's a mix of nerd humor with many references to the Edo period. Basically the MCs are a blonde fantasy elf who has been worshipped as the goddess of a Shinto shrine since the Edo period (and a mega-nerd), and her miko, who's *somewhat* more normal, though kind of obessed with being stylish. It's funny, especially their banter, I would reccomend it: https://www.hidive.com/tv/otaku-elf

Finished Otaku Elf, loved it.
I saw Gunbuster and Gunbuster 2: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Gunbuste ... es-Blu-ray , https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GY09 ... unbuster-2
I especially enjoyed the first, but the second was good too. The first had some really interrsting pseudo-scneitific concepts that I would much later see in Chris Nolan's Interstellar, I also see where many ideas that would appear in Evangelion and Gurren Lagann (also from Studio Gainax, and Hidiako Anno in the case of EVA.) Gunbuster 2 had a more space fantasy vibe (they don't try to explain any of their science), and a completely different artstyle, but I srill enjoyed it for the characters, and the new art was still good if different.
Currently watching Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Zoku-Say ... ei-Blu-ray , https://www.rightstufanime.com/Sayonara ... -Blu-ray_2
It's a hillarious but very dark comedy about a very depressed teacher and his incredibly eccentric class, with surreal plots and much social commentary. I finished the manga, but never the anime until now (hopefully!)
In terms of western animation, I saw the 2009 Wonder Woman animated film, which I liked more than either of the Gal Gadot live action films: https://www.max.com/movies/fb7159d0-d1f ... 0f838085ad

Introducing Code Geass to my partner

I started watching Dragon Ball, thinking it'd be a lighthearted, child-friendly anime. I hadn't watched it much two decades ago; I missed or didn't remember all the pervy stuff they put Bulma through in the first episodes.

https://tubitv.com/series/300006456/oni ... ish-subbed
Onihei, it's like a cop drama set in the Edo preiod (1603-1868), that *kinda sorta* romantacizes theivery, while also presentng the law enforcement's point of view.

I watched an episode of Tenchi Muyo season 4. I could barely remember what season 3 was about.

If it matters... Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. It's honestly a decent ride on its own... but the show really felt like all the writer wanted was Revolutionary Girl Utena but with Giant Robots, and needed to be reminded it was a Gundam series multiple times through its run.